One killed, several injured after train carrying GOP lawmakers crashes into truck

A chartered train carrying dozens of GOP lawmakers slammed into a garbage truck Wednesday at a rural Virginia railroad crossing, killing one and injuring several others, including two Congressmen.

Witnesses described a grim accident scene where the stopped truck was horribly mangled before Republican politicians/physicians struggled in vain to save the dying's man life.

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"I looked out the side of the window and then I could see a truck, just in pieces out the side of the window," said Rep. James Comer (R-Ken.)

"It was a garbage truck that was apparently, I would assume, trying to cross the tracks ... Just (left) in pieces."

A victim's body lies underneath tarp near the wreckage of the crash. (Zack Wajsgras/AP)

Christopher Foley, 28, one of two passengers on the garbage truck, died in the crash, Albemarle police confirmed on Wednesday night.

The second passenger was airlifted to the University of Virginia Medica Center with critical injuries, while the driver was hospitalized in serious condition, police said. President Trump previously said the driver had been killed.

A pair of politicians, along with two train crew members, sustained minor injuries, according to Amtrak.

The wreckage of a garbage truck lies beside an Amtrak passenger train after a collision in Crozet, Virginia, U.S. January 31, 2018. REUTERS/Drone Base (STRINGER/REUTERS)

Authorities offered no immediate explanation for the stopped truck's presence on the tracks, although officials said the crossing was equipped with advance warning signs, two gate arms, flashing lights and a ringing alarm.

Politicians reported seeing the dead victim wrapped in a tarp near the scene of the 11:20 a.m. wreck in Crozet, Va. — a town of 5,500 people in Virginia's wine region.

"It was a train going at a pretty good speed," said President Trump. "... The train accident was a tough one. A tremendous jolt."

Emergency first responders and passengers from an Amtrak passenger train carry an injured person across train tracks to an ambulance after the train collided with a garbage truck in Crozet, Virginia. (Justin Ide/Crozet Volunteer Fire Department/Reuters)